Keeping your feelings inside isn’t always the best approach. Take Tony Soprano for example, he always seemed to have a little more pep in his step each time he left Melfi’s office. So maybe the guy who calls himself Mo Gotti feels better now that he’s opened up about what’s been going through his head this summer too.

It’s been a weird summer for everybody around here, and count me as a guy that doesn’t blame Mo for being as confused as his comments would indicate over the last few days. There’s no denying that this offseason’s been confusing. I just hope now that he’s gotten all that garbage out of his system he can get his mind right for training camp, because Cavs fans need him now more than ever.

But to first back up a step or two, I am assuming we all know by now what Maurice told Yahoo on Monday. In the event you don’t know, and you haven’t already asked somebody, below is a recap:

Williams said he was so depressed by James’ exit that he considered walking away from the NBA. “That’s how bad it got,” Williams said. “I contemplated it. I really sat down and envisioned life after basketball. …I really saw myself not playing. “It just didn’t make sense to me. …It doesn’t make sense to me.”

“You get back here to Cleveland, get around the new coaching staff, start a few workouts, get around the young guys and basically accept the fact that we are not what we once were,” he said. “We don’t have the No. 23 jersey hanging in the locker before every game now.”

“It’s crazy because ever since [James left], everybody I see, they approach me and say, ‘Hey, you’re going to be able to play your game now,’ ” Williams said. “ ‘You are going to be able to show everybody what you got,’ or ‘you’re going to be able to do this.’ I was happy with my role. We were winning basketball games. I was coming home every night a winner.

“Who can’t love that? That is what playing a role on a team is all about. …Everybody can’t be the star. I was perfectly comfortable being that piece.”

So sure, a lot of kinda awkward comments there and I don’t want to really dive into them other than to say if I had approached him I’d have been one of those guys saying ‘you’re going to be able to play your game now’ and it kinda causes some concern as a Cavs fan that he doesn’t seem to embrace that idea – at least at the present moment – but that’s not really my point.

My point is I’m not judging. I understand that you gotta get things off your chest, and I’m glad he kept at it Tuesday night on Twitter when he offered the following:

This has been the worst time of my life. Dealing with family issues and everything with the team has been very hard. The family issues are more important and the team issues just compounded the problems. We have a good life without a doubt, but we do go thru shit too. Keep me in your prayers and keep the love and motivation coming. Peace, going to bed. Sleep this off.

So I just hope Mo feels better. Who knows what he’s going through with those family issues, and while Chris Douglas-Roberts thinks his comments were funny [ go to WFNY for his tirade if you missed it ] who cares what Chris Douglas-Roberts thinks is funny. He has averaged 7.9 points per game for his career. What’s more funny to me about CDR is that people used to say that Derrick Rose’s game looked better at Memphis because he was playing alongside Douglas-Roberts. People said it like that, I swear, and two years later that sounds hilarious.

Now that Mo’s been able to get all that off his chest though, I hope that he first decides to pay these haters no mind, and then realizes the opportunity that he has this season. He’s saying and feeling a lot of the same things that most Cavs fans are saying and feeling. He’s right, it doesn’t make sense what happened, and it never will. We all have to get over that now though, and Mo can play an instrumental role in helping Cavs Nation do just that.

It might not make sense now, but if Mo goes out hits for 24 a game this season, and leads the Cavaliers to that 8th seed in the playoffs, whether they end up getting swept by his ex-teammate or not it’ll mean a lot to a lot of people. At least to me it will, and to have that kind of season, this year, he could go down as an all-time Cavalier great.

So just shoot that thing until your arm falls off this season, Mo. Cleveland will be cheering for you then, just like we’re cheering for you now. Be well Maurice.

About Brendan Bowers

I am the founding editor of StepienRules.com. I am also a content strategist and social media manager with Electronic Merchant Systems in Cleveland. My work has been published in SLAM Magazine, KICKS Magazine, The Locker Room Magazine, Cleveland.com, BleacherReport.com, InsideFacebook.com and elsewhere. I've also written a lot of articles that have been published here.